DALLAS — The Dallas boys basketball team (3-10, Mid-Willamette Conference, 4-18) hustled up and down the court Tuesday evening but could not seem to match South Albany’s intensity, losing to the Rebels (11-2, MWC, 18-5), 72-47.

The game started off with the Dragons’ offense passing the ball but not a lot of shooting, giving the Rebels’ defense ample opportunity to steal the ball and pound down the court toward their hoop. At the end of the first quarter, the Dragons were down by 13 points.

In the second quarter the Dragons stepped it up, scoring 18 points, working toward closing that gap.

Despite the loss, head coach Trent Schwartz is quick to credit the Rebels with praise.

“That’s a good team; they’re really good, pretty athletic. I thought we did some good stuff, we just didn’t do as well in the half quarter as we needed to defensively.”

This was the second time the Dragons have gone up against the Rebels. Schwartz said the Dragons have improved as a team since then, coming down with more intensity and energy.

“We actually played better this time, you wouldn’t think so looking at the score, but it was a better effort,” Schwartz said.

Before the start of the game, the Dragon’s seniors, Stewart, Evan Courtney, Tristan DeVries, Woolner, and TJ Dimick, were honored during Senior Night, where they lined up with their families on the court, and received applause and recognition for the hard work they’ve put in as student athletes for the past four years. (See photo on A7.)

“I was hoping to get the win here on the senior night,” DeVries said. “I feel like we could have played better, we could have played defense better, we could have boxed out better, but overall in the end, they were the better team, they played better.”

Friday the boys traveled to Silverton for their final game of the regular season, where they suffered another loss, 86-44.